The Burlesque Republic of The Centauri is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, ruled by Emperor Jaffa with an iron fist, and notable for its museums and concert halls, aversion to nipples, and otherworldly petting zoo. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless, devout population of 31.84 billion Centauris are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The minute, corrupt, pro-business government, or what there is of one, juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Centauri Prime. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Centaurian economy, worth an astonishing 28,986 trillion duckets a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Gambling, and Automobile Manufacturing. Average income is a breathtaking 910,365 duckets, but there is an enormous disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 5,674,237 per year while the poor average 62,402, a ratio of 90.9 to 1.

Funerals are often rudely interrupted by juggling clowns shouting for volunteers from the audience, atheists on vacation find the pantheon of fifty deities's scriptures make useful doorstops, boys who even ask about cheerleading are placed on the Sex Offenders Register, and only the rich can afford the latest medical innovations. Crime, especially youth-related, is so common that it is unusual to encounter someone following the law, probably because of the absence of a police force. The Centauri's national animal is the Narn, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is the pantheon of fifty deities.